Oliphant facebook profiles fake – ministry

People are impersonating Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant on Facebook, her ministry said on Wednesday.

“We wish to put it on record that the minister… has never registered on Facebook or any other social media platform and therefore distances herself from the contents of impersonated accounts,” Oliphant’s special adviser Herbert Mkhize said in a statement.

“I have also noticed that on a regular basis, the imposters… [are] responding to messages that are posted on the page by those who are misled into thinking that they are communicating with the minister.”

The labour ministry was asking Facebook to close all accounts purporting to belong to Oliphant.

Other ministers have also been impersonated on social media networks.

Earlier this month, the higher education department said there were four Facebook profiles impersonating its minister Blade Nzimande.

Last month, Women, Children, and People with Disabilities Minister Lulu Xingwana’s department said a Facebook user was impersonating the minister and asking for funds in her name.

In August, a person pretending to be Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on social media tried to solicit bribes from members of the public.